Vietnam Morning Monitor: Australian tourist recovers lost belongings, Da Nang considers adding 2 weekly fire-and-water shows

|POLITICS

-- President of the Lao National Assembly Sonexay Siphandone and his spouse, Vandara Siphandone, arrived in Hanoi, beginning their official visit to Vietnam from Monday through Thursday, at the invitation of Vietnam’s National Assembly Chairman Tran Thanh Man and his spouse.

They were welcomed at Noi Bai International Airport by NA vice-chairman Nguyen Doan Anh; Le Tan Toi, chairman of the NA’s Committee on National Defence, Security, and Foreign Affairs; and Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Nguyen Hoang Long, the Vietnam News Agency reported.

|SOCIETY

-- Ho Chi Minh City police have dismantled a large-scale operation producing substandard fertilizers for distribution in the Central Highlands and southern Vietnam, charging and detaining 11 people. 

The suspects include the directors of two agricultural companies.

The suspects allegedly imported fertilizers originating from mainland China, South Korea, Taiwan, and Laos, among other places, and stored them at a warehouse in Di An Ward.

They were accused of using misleading packaging to repackage the imported fertilizers into more than 20 foreign-branded products and sell them at higher prices.

Police seized 98,609 bags of fertilizer, weighing a total of 2,157 metric tons.

-- An Australian tourist in Da Nang has recovered his lost mobile phone, bank card, and personal documents after a local woman found the belongings on Duong Tu Quan Street on Sunday evening and handed them to police.

Police identified the owner and returned the belongings to him.

The tourist later sent a thank-you letter to the woman and the police for their assistance.

-- Statistics from leading hospitals in Ho Chi Minh City show that 60 percent, and sometimes as many as 70 percent, of their patients come from other provinces and cities, with the Mekong Delta consistently accounting for the largest share.

Dr. Pham Thanh Viet, director of Cho Ray Hospital, said the main reason is patients’ strong confidence in the professional reputation and expertise of doctors and medical staff at top-tier hospitals.

He also pointed to a major regulatory barrier: rules governing the lists of medicines allocated to hospitals based on their technical capabilities and classifications.

This large-scale movement of patients has created a serious imbalance in the healthcare system. In Ho Chi Minh City, tertiary hospitals are severely overloaded, while healthcare facilities at the grassroots level in other provinces and cities remain underused.

|ECONOMY

-- Executives from major companies in the Fortune network held direct talks with Ho Chi Minh City leaders on Monday to explore investment cooperation opportunities in the city.

The talks took place at the 2026 Ho Chi Minh City Investment Cooperation Forum, which brought together leaders of major corporations, investment funds, and financial institutions, along with more than 100 representatives of domestic and foreign businesses and business associations.

The event was held ahead of the Fortune Southeast Asia 500 Summit, which will take place in Ho Chi Minh City for the first time on Tuesday.

In January-October, Ho Chi Minh City attracted US$19.1 billion in registered foreign direct investment, exceeding its full-year target by 73.9 percent.

|TRAVEL

-- Da Nang authorities are considering increasing the frequency of the Dragon Bridge fire-and-water shows, with the city’s chairman, Nguyen Manh Hung, asking relevant agencies to study a proposal to add performances on Tuesday and Wednesday evenings.

The proposal would bring the number of show nights to five a week.

Dragon Bridge currently puts on fire-and-water shows every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday evening. The performances have become one of Da Nang’s signature tourism attractions, drawing large numbers of visitors.

-- Da Nang has ranked seventh on a list of 10 trending travel destinations for 2027 released by travel search platform Skyscanner, with flight searches for the Vietnamese city rising 68 percent year on year.

The Da Nang Tourism Promotion Center, under the municipal Department of Culture, Sports, and Tourism, said on Monday that Skyscanner's Travel Trends 2027 report had named Da Nang the only destination from Vietnam and Southeast Asia to make the top 10 list.

According to Skyscanner, the ranking was based on year-on-year growth in searches for round-trip flights between January 1 and June 17, 2026, combined with an assessment of each destination's appeal to travelers.

Outdoor movie screening in Ho Chi Minh City